Sick Like Me (Sick Like #1)

Chapter 30

THIRTY

A handful of days passed by in the blink of an eye, and that was where I found myself sat in Owen’s car with my eyes and lips parted wide open in mild surprise. “What did you just say?” I asked, trying to hold back a scoff of mild disgust.

“I said,” He began, the brightest of smiles on his lips as he seemed to either ignore, or entirely miss, the agitation hidden beneath my words. “We may bump into my family tonight.”

His family were there. And he suspected we would bump into them. Right, I had caught myself up on the rundown.

That made me think he had told them we would be there, and that he half expected them to seek us out. That thought terrified me, it made me feel disgusting and my skin itch. Not because I would be meeting a man’s family for the first time in my life. No, that was something I almost looked forward to in the dating scene. But I felt so off focus because of one thing, and one thing only.

Dakota fucking Vernon. The man who I had let make me come from his fingers, the second man I had allowed inside me, and the first man I had ever given a blowjob to. Which had happened just a few nights prior .

I hoped Owen didn’t kiss me. The idea of it made me feel nauseous. Again, at no fault of his own.

Climbing out of the car, I felt my stomach drop with shame. It still felt like cheating, even if Kota had made his stance about us being purely physical quite clear when he had left the morning after without even allowing himself time to drink a glass of water. If he had wings, he would have jumped out of the window and flown away at speed humans could never comprehend.

Ever since, neither one of us had messaged each other. My messages remained empty with the sound of crickets.

“Maybe it’s for the best,” Peyton spoke over the three way call when I had video called our group chat a few hours earlier, asking for opinions on my makeup and outfit choices for the night.

“Yeah, think about it this way,” Stefan spoke, using his hand to push his growing hair out of his eyes. I had no doubt that in a week or two, he would be back to his buzz cut. “You’ve gotten him out of your system now. Now you can settle down and become ‘little housewife Ashton’.”

I scoffed at the thought of being nothing more than a sweet loving wife to a man who spent all his time working. I needed my own identity. And part of me knew that Owen would never share the same fantasies as my own. He looked as vanilla as they came.

I walked around the car and held my hand out to Owen, and like a magnet, his fingers found my hand and wrapped around them tightly. His hands were only just bigger than my own, and my hands were considered small. Despite how much I tried not to, I couldn’t help but compare his hand size to Kota’s much larger ones.

I didn’t mean to do it, compare him to the other man so much. But something about me remained addicted to the cavalier Englishman. Sure, Owen was incredibly good looking and friendly in his own right. But he didn’t keep me on edge like I wanted. He didn’t make my skin tingle or my blood boil.

I tried my best to push the thoughts away from my mind as we joined a crowd of people walking their way dow the path of the carpark towards the large gates of the park.

Bonfire Night was a night I didn’t make much effort to do anything for. Sometimes I would go to Peyton’s parents with my best friend and her toddler, or sometimes I would stay home and sit in the garden with a bottle of wine and my dressing gown on as I watched the sky light up with fireworks from all directions near and far.

But I allowed Owen to drag me out. I had ditched him for my friends (and technically Dakota) on Halloween, and I knew I would next to never see him the closer to Christmas it got, so I did my best to get some time in for us so he wouldn’t find an excuse to complain. Although, the thought of him using my lack of interest in him as an excuse to break up with me allured me. I wanted him to break up with me, so I would feel a little less shitty for being so hung up on another man.

“Your hands are freezing,” Owen noted, his thumb rubbing the skin of my hand in an attempt to warm me up. I smiled at him, shrugging one shoulder.

“I’m always cold,” I replied, keeping my eyes on the dark path ahead of us lit by the sporadically placed vintage looking street lamps.

I had to make a conscious effort to keep my feet moving by raising my knees high enough. Stumbling and falling flat on my face in front of a moving crowd sounded like hell, and I would be damned if I let my clumsiness ruin my night.

We got to the end of the path, where the park opened up from the trails surrounded by trees to a large field. We followed the path where some people turned off, trying to find a space for us to be free of other people.

Behind us on cemented rectangles stood food and drink trucks. One sold hot drinks such as hot chocolates and coffee. Another looked like a bar that sold beer and other kinds of alcohols. And the final one sold burgers and hot dogs, a typical British ‘side of the road’ food van.

Owen noticed me checking the vans out behind us as we got to a free bench. “Do you want to get a bite to eat and a drink?” He asked, to which I debated for a second before I nodded my head.

“Sure, do you mind getting me a hot choc and a hot dog, please?” I asked, knowing he would get it with or without me adding pleasantries to the end.

“With or without cream?” He asked, and I found the perfect opportunity to use my quick wit.

“I like my hot dogs un-creamed,” I joked, waiting for his response. He rolled his eyes, and didn’t even let out a laugh. He smiled though.

“I meant on your hot chocolate.”

At the lack of laugh in response to my joke, I felt my stomach drop.

Dakota would have laughed or sassed me back, my inner voice screamed in my head another pro to the man I was trying to forget.

I forced a smile, nodding my head as a silent yes. I then watched as Owen walked off to the vans to order the food and drinks, leaving me on the bench alone with my thoughts.

Why are you wasting your time on this man, instead of trying to woo the one you really want?

Because he can’t give you commitment, that’s what you need at your age.

Maybe he can, you don’t know if you never try!

Two inner voices I never knew I had battled it out, one wearing a shirt and hat with faces of Owen on, the other wearing the same but with Kota’s face. I was in no mood to listen to either of them, so I closed my eyes as I tried to focus on the sounds around me to drown them out.

I felt warmth beside me and opened my eyes, turning my head. I expected to see Owen, but instead I saw a young girl who had to have been a few years younger than me. She had blonde hair, half tied back and secured by a bow. Her smile was that of Owen’s, and there was no mistaking she was his sister.

I sat up straighter, my eyes shooting behind her to find Owen was in a conversation with a man and a woman who seemed to be middle aged. He looked the perfect mix of each adult. His parents, I soon realised.

“Ashton, it’s lovely to meet you,” The young girl beside me spoke, her voice delicate and kind sounding. The way she sat screamed gentle and mature, her leg folded on top of the other while her white fluffy gloved hands sat atop her knee.

“Kloe,” I smiled at her, shooting another look behind her as I silently prayed Owen would notice my look of desperation. But when I caught his eye, he just gave me a wide smile and held his thumb up before he got distracted by the man offering him our food.

I was not prepared for meeting his family. Sure, he had warned the we had might run into them. But with his sister sitting beside me, I had the sense they had sought us out. Hunted us down to share the night with us whether I wanted them to be there or not.

I kept the forced smile on my lips as I watched Owen make his way to us, a hot dog in one of his hands and a cup of hot chocolate in the other. Behind him, his mother held his own hot dog and drink while his father ordered for the rest of the family.

I had to stop myself from letting loose a sign of relief as Owen came to stand before me, holding the items out to me. I took them gratefully, watching as he turned to his mother who handed him his own items.

“Ashton, how are you lovely?” The woman asked, reaching a hand out to touch my lower arm. She greeted me as if I had been sharing her dinner table every Sunday—as if I wasn’t a stranger dating her son.

I parted my lips in surprise by her sudden welcoming demeanour. I found the words after a few seconds, my head nodding to add extra effect to my words. “I’m great, thank you. How are you?”

“I’ll be doing better when I have some mulled wine down me!” She let out a bark of laughter, and I then found where Owen got his sarcastic sounding laugh from. “I’ll be back in a few, you stay with your brother, okay Klo?” The woman skipped away without a response.

As she reached her husband, she wrapped an arm around his own. The pair smiled at one another, mist coming from their parted lip.

I smiled before I looked down at my lap, at my hands holding the food and drink. I sighed, taring my eyes to look up at Owen. I looked into his brown eyes, and I wished I could love him how his mother loved his father.

Breaking up with him in front of his sister would have been a low blow, so I decided to leave him some peace for another night. But I knew I had to break up with him, I couldn’t let things go too far.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Owen raised an eyebrow as he looked at my unmoving hands. I smiled and rolled my eyes, finally raising the hot dog to take a bite. It was nothing magical or unique, but it still hit the spot in the cold bitter night regardless.

It was making me miss my father. He always used to like going to the Hadley Gardens to watch the fireworks with a hot drink in our hands, and a lazy takeaway waiting for us on our ride back home.

I finished my drink and food within record time, and Owen being the sweetheart he was, took our rubbish and hunted down a bin. His sister remained mostly silent, and it was intimidating having her so close to me. She was a beautiful girl, even more so than Owen—and he was Stefan’s biggest man crush.

I sucked in a breath, daring myself to find some words to share with the girl. “How has your… day been?” I asked, unsure if it was a good idea to play the safe route or not.

“Good,” She gave a curt nod of her head, and I couldn’t help but get the sense that maybe she didn’t want to be there—that maybe she didn’t want to be with me .

“Good,” I replied in an almost whisper. But my concerns disappeared the second Mr and Mrs Greenwich waltz their way over to us. Owen joined the group not much longer after.

The fireworks were set to go off at any minute, and so the family made space so all of us could fit on the bench. I sat squeezed between Mrs Greenwich and Owen, while Mr Greenwich sat on the edge of the bench with Kloe on his lap as if she were still his little child.

I smiled at the image, and then I had to hold back a laugh as I imagined the situation as if it had been myself and Tobias Barret. My father would have for sure pushed me off his lap onto the floor regardless of the consequences.

I felt a warm arm snake around my back, and felt my body being pulled even close to Owen’s not that I believed it was possible. I smiled, basking in the warm the had to offer. I had cursed myself for not bringing a warmer jacket, but I never needed one with the human radiator that was Owen around.

I was about to open my lips to start a conversation with him with the hopes it could cause a conversation between us as a whole group, but before I could, a loud bang erupted before there were flashes of colour covering the sky.

I jumped at the sudden noise, my head snapping up at the sky. The crowd in the park all let our gasps and noises of content at the vision.

Seven minutes was a long time for fireworks, longer than most displays I had ever seen. After two minutes of silence, everyone began to take the hint that the display was over, and that it was time to leave.

I stood, unsure what the plan was next. I had barely spoken to the ‘in-laws’, as Owen joked. But what the hell was I supposed to say? Oh hey I’m about to break your son’s heart, have a great evening! Yeah, I think not.

I turned to face Owen, which caused him to stand. His body was impossibly close to mine, the scent of his perfume making my throat close up as I felt the need to cough. So I took a few steps back and gave him a smile to try and show I meant no harm.

“Shall we… Leave?” I asked, my voice holding a silent tone of begging to it. One I hoped he would pick up on but knew he was unlike to do so.

“Well funny you ask that,” He began, showing his hands into his pockets. “I was chatting to my parents while I was waiting for our food and they suggested we go and hang out at a café to try to get everyone well acquainted.”

I pursed my lips, my mind begging me to say no so I could go home and pop open a drink and watch fireworks into the early morning as a way to try to forget the thoughts buzzing around my mind.

Where was he? Was he watching fireworks like I was? Were we looking up at the same sky?

Thoughts I would rather have pushed deep inside and long forget about.

But my mouth was a little fucking traitor was wanted to please everyone, so the word ‘Yes’ slipped past my lips before I could consider the options.

Owen grinned and clapped his hands together in a display of enjoyment. “Great, then let’s get going. Klo, you want to come in my car?” He offered his sister, who nodded her head. Her cheeks and nose were bright red, no doubt from being bitten by the cold air. And I suspected my own were on par.

Without much thought or debate, we made our way down the path, to the car park once again.

I didn’t mean to appear like a moody bitch, but I made no effort to converse with the Greenwich couple. They asked me questioned and I answered, but I refused to give them more than a few words in response.

What would it be like meeting his parents? My traitorous brain thought, and I tried my best to shake the thoughts away as I reached for the door handle of Owen’s car.

“Sit in the back will you?” Owen asked, his sister stood expectantly behind me as she eyes the front passenger seat up. My lips parted in surprise that he was making me sit in the back instead of the teenager, but I said nothing as I just made my way to the back passenger door.

I opened the door and silently sat inside the car, then I slammed the door harder than intended. No one seemed to pick up on my mood change as they climbed into their own seats, pulling their seatbelts on securely.

I sat opposite Kloe, with her parents either side of her. Owen sat to my right opposite his father. We all had cups in front of us. I had gone with a cinnamon cappuccino, while Owen and his mother had oat milk lattes. Kloe had a hot chocolate with a hazelnut syrup, and Mr Greenwich drank a strong black coffee, no milk no sugar.

Having the family sit opposite me felt intimidating, as if I was on full display for them to pick me apart and judge. But the smiled on their faces showed they were no harm.

I got to learn a few things about Owen’s family. Kloe wanted to go to college and do cosmetology before she opened her own hair dressing shop.

Mrs Greenwich was a stay at home mother, who took home making seriously and even shared videos on social media of how she organises her home.

And Mr Greenwich worked for FinOptix Solutions, a finance company that dealt with helping other companies organise and deal with their finances. The same fucking company Dakota fucking Vernon worked for, just the Hadley branch instead of the London one.

We finished our drinks, and while Mrs Greenwich wanted to invite me to the house to spend as much as trying to get to know me, I excused that I had an early morning ‘family event’ to go to.

Did I lie? Yes. Did I feel bad for doing so to such a lovely woman? Fuck no.

So we left the café. But the Greenwich family seemed to be lingering around, chatting to one another as if they weren’t going to be seeing their son come home that night–despite the fact he lived with them.

I stood with the passenger door open, thankful Kloe wanted to go home instead of on a short road trip to drop me home then back to her own home.

I let out a loud and dramatic yawn, to which Owen finally learnt how to take a hint. He reached for his door and flung it open. “Okay guys, we best get Ashton home. I’ll see you guys in a few, yeah?”

Kloe, the silent and unemotional looking girl, rushed over to me and wrapped her arms around me as if I were a long time friend who she hadn’t seen in years.

“I really like you,” Kloe whispered into my ear, her hug tight and almost comforting. She smelt of all things caramel and gingerbread, a scent that I enjoyed for a second before she pulled back .

She spoke in a low voice once again, ensuring I was the only one to hear. “I hope you never break my brother’s heart.”